Aaron Collins's Suspects Chapter 12
by Psychoflop
Summary: Holly begins her second round of interrogation


Chapter 12: Holly's second round of interrogation

Corrine nodded slowly and walked beside Holly into the interrogation room. Corrine looked around the room before taking her seat. The lights were beginning to flicker on and off as Toronto's power grid occasionally destabilizes.

"Still more energy efficient than Edmonton."

"Cut the crap and sit down, Wytchy."

Corrine laughed at Holly, "I have picked bigger pieces of flat track out of my roller blades than you Ms. Rapp, but I will oblige, I have nothing to hide." Corrine sat down.

"Thank you, you know something? I am amazed that you even stuck around after Aaron had that falling out with that band in Norway that peaked when they toured with Theatre of Tragedy."

"Aaron is likely the team's biggest fan outside of Edmonton."

"Right, the Oil City Derby Girls. You are retired, are you not?"

"I am."

"Yet you still pursued Aaron for funding and when that did not work you brutally murdered him."

"Never got around to even asking to sit down with him. I was too busy pursuing Plan A."

"Which was?"

"I have been designing clothes for fans of the team for about 2 years now. But we have been running stagnant on sales so I have been testing some new ideas on people. And the best place to pitch fashion ideas I find, is the laundry room. So I headed downstairs and I only find 2 people I even remotely recognize. Both ladies, both from Australia."

Holly went through the guest list in her mind. "The only 2 who fit that criteria are Megan and Julie." remembering that she spoke Julie not long ago.

"Yes, that would be them. Anyway, I felt kind of bad for Megan's dress but time is money so I took out my black and red sketchbook and showed them my ideas. Megan seemed more into them than Julie, but both were at least semi-interested. I took so long that the staff were freaking out that a murder was committed in the hotel."

"Well, that corroborates Julie's story. Still, I will have to talk to Ida about Megan. You can go now. But could you get me Chiara, please?"

"Redhead, Italian, penchant for corsets?"

"That would be her."

Corrine walked out and quickly spotted Chiara, she was in tears over the murder of her husband. "Chiara sweetie, I know that you may not be ready for it but Holly has requested that you be next."

"I will manage." she dabbed a tissue over her eyes, stood up and headed for the room.

"My condolences on the loss of your husband."

"Thank you."

"Then again, you and he probably wanted money out of Aaron more than anyone. And at least we know that the human rights endeavours you and Fabio were going to spend the money was at least noble. But taking lives to save lives is not right unless it is for defence of life. With Aaron's money and global influence, this is tantamount to an assassination. And what is the first rule of assassination? Oh yes, kill the assassins."

"You seriously think I would decapitate my own husband? And even if I did, why would I then kill Harley?

"To cover up witnesses."

"Using your logic I should have killed almost the entire male contingent of Aaron's party. I have developed a rare form of arthritis in my upper body common with singers, I cannot lift anything over 20 kilograms…oh right, you are American, 44 pounds. With Aaron's murder I was playing cards with Jess Felix and Isabel Foster. We were discussing the possibility of Your Favorite Enemies and Crysalys touring together."

"Ida questioned both of them, so it should be easy to cross-reference. Ok Chiara, we are good. I need you to find Kate for me."

"Kate? RIGHT, the wedding planner."

Chiara stood up and walked out, taking a moment to find Kate, "Ms. Pelisek, you are next."

Kate nodded, stood up and walked to the interrogation room. It was a slow, pained walk. But after a car accident that nearly crippled her years ago, who could blame her? Even sitting down in the interrogation room was a chore.

"Frankly I am amazed that you even came."

The dirty mind of Kate forced a giggle at the double entendre.

"Do you think this is funny?"

Kate nodded, escalating the giggle to full-on guffaws of laughter.

"You took your painkillers during lunch."

"Yes ma'am and I chased them with a tiny bottle of rum."

"Good grief…then again, if I killed Aaron, I might try to mix alcohol with prescription drugs too. To hide my grief"

"Really? According to my dossier, you do not drink."

Holly lowered her head, beaten with simple logic. "Touché"

"I admit that my relationship with Aaron is as spotty as everyone else's. But frankly I took more pleasure (and possibly more money) in pitching a wedding to the old Australian guy."

Holly tilted her head sideways, "And my little travel buddy was there too. I got that out of him before he was killed."

"Indeed he was. He wanted Karl to license him a song for his wrestling career. I gave him some wedding options. It took a while for Harley and myself to even get a framework for what Karl was looking for with either of us. If my memory serves I could hear Ida crying from a few floors away."

"Can you blame her?"

"No, I really cannot. Ok Kate, I think I have all I need."

"Who will I be fetching for you?"

"Krystal. It should be easy enough for you. You are both Cmk."

"Actually, despite my being put in Cmk, I have no ties to any of the other members. In fact, it has been 8 or 9 years since Aaron had a Cmk on his facebook list that I even recognize."

"Understood. There is likely a Yfe family member or 2 on Aaron's list that I have never heard of either. Dirty blonde hair, not even 5 feet tall."

Kate needed a moment to assimilate the information, "Ok, I think I got it."

Kate (with help of her cane) exited the interrogation room. It took her a bit of time to find Krystal (height means nothing when many people are sitting down), but she did: "Krystal, it is your turn." Krystal looked up at Kate, nodded, and stood up. She kissed her husband Justin and headed for the interrogation room. She sat down quickly and asked Holly, "Before we proceed, may I have a glass of water please. This hotel is so dry."

"Sure. I think they sell them by the main desk for $3"

Krystal handed Holly a $5 bill, "Bring back the change."

Holly nodded and headed out, mumbling "I will never adjust to the Canadian polymer money." She inserted the $5 bill into the bill slot and selected a bottle of Dasani. She collected the $2 coin and headed back, placing the coin and bottle on the table. "Murdering Aaron dry you out?"

"Oh please, do you honestly expect someone like me to be able to carry a bag with a sledgehammer, gun and knife? I need my daughter's help to open a can of spaghetti sauce for fuck's sake."

"Let me guess, you were with your husband who just happens to have the same motive."

"Nope, I was not even with any guy. I was discussing different methods of parenting with Aaron's mom and Tina."

"Really? Your youngest is in elementary school by now. You really should not need a second opinion by now."

"But Tina's youngest is in her 20's and Aaron's sister is 33. Completely different beast, being a parent by that point."

"Yours may actually take the longest to verify, as Aaron L. questioned Lindsay and Ida questioned Tina. But you are free to go for now."

"Thank you." Krystal then peeked at Holly's list. "I think I can find Melinda without too many difficulties."

Holly nodded as Krystal left the room, bottle of water in tow. "Mel?"

Melinda tilted her head towards Krystal

"You are up."

Melinda nodded and headed for the interrogation room. "I will try to be easy for you Holly; I do not enjoy the Yfe/Cult of Aaron tension."

"Nor do I."

"I believed in Aaron's efforts to have us all get along."

"So says the one who was so alienated by Aaron's hormones, you hid your own sexuality for years. And you resented him for that, did you not?"

Melinda thought about that question for the better part of 2 minutes "For a long time I did. Then again, Aaron largely disappeared from the Brampton social structure for years, so he never noticed. Then again, he likely would have been oblivious anyway because of his lack of social skills."

"Yes, you have had close to 2 decades for that resentment to stew into murder."

"Aaron is pretty much the last guy I would kill out of everyone I knew in Turner."

"Oh please. I know about how you screwed up your knuckles almost killing a schoolmate in the cafeteria."

"And I know about your wrist lock shenanigans back in Indiana, what the fuck is your point?"

"I have an Alibi in the murder of Aaron Collins, you do not."

"Actually, I do. I was at the community computer terminal on the ground floor, talking with my daughter Delaney. I was having some problems with keeping control of the terminal as others also wanted it. Namely, Lindsay's friend from Vancouver and the cab driver who was on the Go Train with me."

"So, Rob Wilkinson and…Allan?"

"Not Allan, his mother."

"Laurie?"

"Indeed."

"So you wasted enough time on the computer to go past Aaron's murder?"

"Between the 3 of us, yes."

"Interesting. Well, the computer log should reveal if it was actually on the internet or not, and the webcam should tell us if it was you, Laurie and Rob on there long enough to exonerate you. Incidentally, Rob is next could you get him please?"

"Sure. Told you I was easy."

Melinda smiled weakly and left the interrogation room, "Mr. Cab Driver, you are next."

"Thanks, Melinda right?"

"Yes sir."

Rob stood up, but did not immediately head for the interrogation room. In fact, unlike the other suspects he actually pondered a game plan: _Assuming Melinda told the truth, she gave Holly…oh, sorry brain…Detective Rapp the same alibi that I have. I have nothing to hide, and I actually admire Aaron L.'s, Holly's, and Ida's assertive and calm nature over the gruesome situation at hand. I should just cut the bullshit, walk right into the interrogation room and just give my alibi BEFORE Detective Rapp can even get the first question out of her mouth._

Rob smiled in confidence and strutted into the interrogation room. "I will spare you the questions: Melinda and Laurie are my alibi as we were in the computer room taking turns with the Internet. Between the 3 of us, we were on well past the time of Aaron's murder. None of us left the room long enough to kill him in the interim and I was the one who turned the webcam on so between that and the computer log you have no choice but to exonerate all 3 of us as suspects. Now who is next on your list? As my motive (wanting to re-start Digital Underground) is weak because I hate 12 hour days, 365 days a year and I do not want to go back to that."

Holly was flabbergasted (much like Aaron Langemann when he questioned Isaac), "Um." She looked at her list, trying to maintain composure, "Victoria Nicole Barden."

"Who?"

"Just look for the tallest girl in the group."

"Will do."

Rob strutted back out of the room and immediately found Victoria. "Excuse me, but Tori, you are up."

Tori nodded, said "Thank you." and headed for the interrogation room. Once inside…

"I am amazed you do not have to duck."

"Really Holly? A joke about my height coming from one of the de facto detectives? I would think you are better than that."

"Sorry. Perhaps I should talk to you about something that is not funny. Like, you know, you killing Aaron Collins."

"Look, I admit that I am an ex of Aaron's and because of that I probably have a lot more reasons to kill him than anyone else."

"That would be an understatement. Yeah, I read up on you. Part of me understands that you would want him dead after your relationship imploded back in 2004."

"I prefer learning things. That is why I met up with the Norwegian…"

"…You know, in the yfeniverse we call her Solveig."

"Right, sorry, I am not good with first names that I have not heard before, but I do remember Allan, and he was with us. In the ground floor conference room. Solveig was teaching us both Norwegian. We went on for a long time because…as Solveig put it…'There are actually 2 different versions of the written Norwegian, one based on Danish, the other based on local dialects. So for speaking Norwegian, I have to teach both and even then, good Norwegian grammar almost does not exist due to the incessant arguments of the individuals'".

Holly widened her eyes, "Wow, and people think English is difficult to learn."

"Yes, silly, is it not?"

"Oh the arguments cannot be that bad."

"At least 1 prime minister has resigned over there because of it."

"Wow. And this is your alibi?"

"Yes, it took us 6 or so hours just to learn how to count to 20, say hello, goodbye and ask for the bathroom."

"I am amazed it was not longer."

"Am I free to go now?"

"Sure. But can you get Jen for me, please?"

"Um…"

"…the one with the odd lip piercing."

"You ask a girl with a labret to find a girl with a lip piercing? How appropriate."

Victoria stood up, exited and found Jen surprisingly quickly. "Jen Lemons?"

"Yes."

"Holly wants to interrogate you now."

"Very well." exclaimed Jen, already walking towards the interrogation room. She sat down looking at Holly with a blank stare.

"Do NOT look at me like that."

"What is the matter? I am only curious."

"About what? I should be the curious one."

"Yes, you are the detective and all. But in all of the years I have known Aaron, the yfe fan community has always fascinated me. Always a secondary priority with Aaron (because Aaron himself did not create it), yet more of his time is spent interacting with you guys. What grabs Aaron's attention to that extent? Especially since he does not listen to music that sounds close to Your Favorite Enemies and autistic people do not like to stray too far from their interests."

"I ask myself the same question. So does my father, Michael. But that is irrelevant to the matter at hand."

"Quite right. You now think I killed him."

"Over his lack of philanthropy, yes."

"It should not anger me so much as I do not have Autism myself, but it does. He jumped over the fence; he should pull others over with a helping hand."

"I do not dispute your hypothesis; I do however dispute it as a reason to murder someone."

"I did not murder anyone. Last night I was heading for the elevator to go downstairs as I love how beautiful the place is. When I ran into 2 of Aaron's American friends who were discussing their respective homes in the south. 1 was one of the wrestlers, the one who owns a school in Louisiana."

"John owns a wrestling school?"

"Yes, he does. He is very proud of it. Now who was the other one? Woman, about Aaron's mom's age. One of the yfe fans. I remember her mentioning that she fondly enjoyed a weekend with Aaron and…you…in late 2012."

"Elizabeth?"

"Oh good, I described her well enough. So yeah, we chilled until the sun came up. Then someone on the staff came and told us to meet down here."

"And none of you excused yourself for a little side trip?"

"Only to pee. I think there never more than 90 seconds where 1 of us left to even pee."

"Ok Jen, I will compare this with Aaron as he questioned John and Elizabeth. You may go now!"

As Holly and Jen left the interrogation room, Holly distinctly heard Ida shout, "ALRIGHT, It is processing everything I put into it."

Jen returned to the crowd while Holly walked over to Ida, "You look happy."

"I am. Aaron put an app he developed on my phone that analyzes fingerprints just as well as police computers do."

"Great, but we had no prints from any the crimes."

"You are actually mistaken. I took a second look at the shell casings from Aaron's murder; we found a full print one bullet. Using that as my base I uploaded it into my app. When the app asked for prints to compare it, I took prints from every suspect we have, Aaron Langemann, myself, the staff…OH, I missed you and Jen as you were both in the interrogation room while I did it." Jen overheard the speech and walk towards Ida, "I will gladly volunteer my print."

Holly nodded, "As will I."

Ida spoke to her phone, "Pause to receive 2 more prints."

The phone spoke, "Pausing…you may now submit additional prints."

Ida held up the phone so that the camera could snap a picture, Holly and Jen posed making sure their hands were facing the camera so that the phone could analyze and pick up the prints. They heard the camera go off, "Fingerprints taken, continuing analysis."

Holly asked, "How long until it figures it out?"

"Hours, this thing does not have a processor like Toronto's police computer would no doubt have. We will proceed as planned. I am next to interrogate and I will get through the last batch alone. Catherine, you are first on my second batch."

No one knew for sure what Catherine Bronnikova said in Russian, but many guesses were…Uh oh.


End file.
